A new Ultra upgrade kit aims to make Campagnolo Super Record even lighter and more premium, swapping in more carbon, more titanium, and smoother spinning ceramic bearings for those incremental gains. If you were ever concerned that your latest Campy Super Record 13 groupset was too affordable, oh boy, does Vicenza have the perfect solution for you!
For the totally reasonable price of an extra 1114€, Ultra will shed between 61-81g off your bike. That makes what was already claimed to be the lightest contemporary road groupset, now even lighter. Will it make you faster? I can’t say for sure. But that fancy carbon chainring might make you feel more special, though.
Plus, buy all three and Campy will discount you 10%, making those two USB ceramic bearings almost free, and the whole shebang coming in at an even thousand euros!
How did we get here?
Campagnolo got a decent amount of blowback in 2023 when they introduced their Super Record Wireless groupset with a whopping $5400 / 5200€ price tag – and no thumb shift button! Campy talked about a concept of ‘sports luxury’ at the time. But a lot of cyclists who were long-time fans of the Italian-made drivetrain were simply priced out.
Campy answered with a 20% cheaper, simplified matte Super Record S-version a year later that added a few grams (and coincidentally dropped USB ceramic bearings from its crankset.) And it seemed they might be on a path towards more affordability.
Then, this past spring, they did it again, introducing an all-new Super Record 13 groupset that was again wireless, but now lighter with an upgrade to 13-speeds, a return of the thumb button, and cost 17% less than Super Record Wireless from a couple years earlier. Plus, Campagnolo promised that this SR13 would become a new platform that would expand to gravel, as well, soon. And they teased that the technology would not only remain at this single high-end groupset level.
We took that to mean we could hope for maybe Record 13 or even Chorus 13 wireless in the near future. We didn’t really anticipate a Super Duper Ultra Record groupset designation. But here we are.
Campagnolo Super Record 13 Ultra lightweight upgrade kit
OK, that maybe feels a bit of an overexaggeration. Campagnolo has only just added 3 new components to their Ultra level, as Super Record 13 upgrades. Ultra has been an extra top-tier for Campy for decades, most recently as Ultra-premium wheels. But also as a crankset and ceramic bearing upgrade, last over a dozen years ago.
What you get are 2 new Ultra carbon chainrings with alloy teeth, 2 new Ultra cassettes with a mix of titanium & steel cogs, and a set of Ultra ceramic bearings that bring USB back to Super Record bottom brackets.
What’s changed?
Campy says the carbon structure of the Ultra chainring improves shifting rigidity, co-molded over machined 7075 aluminum teeth for long-wearing durability. Plus, it reduces the big ring weight by 22-30%.
The Ultra cassettes replace the standard SR13’s upper steel monoblock of cogs with CNC-machined titanium to save weight, while retaining the lower block of hardened steel cogs to retain durability. The weight savings is bigger for the bigger 11-36T Ultra cassette replacing the upper 5 steel cogs now in ti, while the 10-33T Ultra replaces the upper 4 steel cogs with machined titanium. Weight savings end up at 16% and 12%, respectively. Plus, Campagnolo used the move to ti as an opportunity to laser etch their winded QR logo on the upper ti cogs to contrast with the new ‘black chrome’ finish the SR13 steel cogs got to reduce drivetrain friction and noise.
And lastly, the Ultra silicon nitride bottom bracket upgrade brings dual-seal ceramic bearings back to Super Record cranks after they snuck away with Super Record S and didn’t return with SR13. There is a new low-friction cage for the balls, but no mention of composite or special race finishes, so we’ll assume these are back to USB tech, combining ceramic balls, steel races, and normal grease.
OK, so how much weight will you really save?
Let’s start with the easy one. The Ultra ceramic bottom bracket bearings are 3g lighter than the stainless ones that came pressed on your Super Record 13 crankset. The others depend on your gearing setup.
If you are like me and ride a compact chainset and wider cassette gearing, you’ll save 34g for the 50T chainring and 44g for your 11-36T cassette – for a total of 81g saved. If you are faster than me and run big gears, you’ll save just 28g for the 52T ring and 30g on the 10-33T cassette – 61g in total. Slow guys save more!
Just for frame of reference, when we remember the total cost… a mix of 14€ worth of 1€ & 2€ coins would weigh about the same 72.5g, without even worrying about the eleven hundred-euro bills you’ll need tucked in your wallet. But I guess that could be extra weight savings too, when you upgrade to Campy SR13 Ultra!
Campagnolo Super Record 13 Ultra – Pricing, options & availability
The new Campagnolo Super Record 13 Ultra upgrades are available one at a time now, so you can upgrade what matters to you first, what you can afford, or do it piecemeal as your drivetrain wears.
The most affordable is the $164€ SR13 Ultra ceramic bearings (over the standard steel 50€ steel replacement bearings), although no one will be able to see that you went Ultra!
Buying the $330€ Ultra chainring is definitely the most flashy upgrade, available as either a 50T or 52T big ring only (compared to the 150€ standard big ring). Campagnolo will also sell the Super Record Ultra chainring pairs for 430€ for when you need to replace the set, as compared to 250€ for the conventional aluminum SR13 set of chainrings.
Lastly, Campy SR13 Ultra ti cassettes sell for 620€, available only in 10-33T or 11-36T sizing (compared to 358€ for the standard all-steel Super Record 13 cassettes).
Note: All prices are the same in € and £ (including VAT) and in $ (before tax).
Get your Ultra bling from your local Campy hustler dealer now.
